The present invention relates to a medical instrument for removing tissue, in particular a shaver, drill, or morcellator, having a tool that can be set in rotation and a motorized drive for driving the tool, the instrument having an elongate body and a handle that projects laterally from said elongate body.
The invention relates further to a handle for use with a medical instrument of the abovementioned kind.
Medical instruments, in particular shavers having an elongate body and a handle that projects laterally from said elongate body, are known and are sold, for example, by the applicant under the designation DrillCut-X. This product is what is known as a shaver for use in ENT medicine. Such instruments are used in minimally invasive surgery to remove tissue from the human or animal body. These instruments usually have an elongate body which has at its distal end a tool that can be set in rotation. The shaver-tool shaft has usually a fixed outer shaft, which generally has a rounded end, and an inner shaft that rotates therein. In the region of its distal end, the outer shaft usually has at least one window having at least one cutting edge. The inner shaft has in this case at its distal end, in the region of the at least one window in the outer shaft, at least one cutting element, which can likewise be designed in the form of a window having a cutting edge. In operation, the inner shaft rotates inside the outer shaft and tissue which enters the window in the outer shaft is then removed between the cutting edge of the window and the rotating cutting elements of the inner shaft and is extracted by suction through the inner shaft, for example by a vacuum being applied. The elongate body of the shaver usually comprises the motor for driving the inner shaft and thus the rotating cutting tool. The laterally projecting handle allows the operator to hold the medical instrument and to manipulate it for the operation.
However, shavers where the motor is arranged in the handle are also known.
In practical operation, it has been shown, however, that a single fixed handle is unfavourable with regard to different use positions of the shaver. It has further been shown that different users prefer different hand positions for using the shaver, with some even dispensing with the handle entirely and tending to hold the elongate body of the shaver, for example in a similar manner to a pen.
The present invention is not limited to shavers, but rather the instrument according to the invention can be for example also a surgical drill or a morcellator. The term “tool” is to be understood as meaning accordingly a drilling tool in the case of a drill, a cutting tool in the case of a shaver or morcellator, and, for example, a milling tool or rasping tool in other instruments for removing tissue.